Sumerian Midgard Game

 

Armies of Lagash and Ur deployed

Opposite end from the Lagash side

Ur attackers advance

Lagash defenders advance

Battle cars charge and counter-charge

Infantry combat in the centre

Battle cars in combat on the Lagash left flank

Last Sunday afternoon I played a solo game of Midgard Heroic Battles with my Sumerian armies out in the shed. These beautifully illustrated rules, written by James Morris, published by Reisswitz Press and available on the TFL's website, have only been just released. I played a set battle with similar 300 point armies, the attackers of Ur and the defenders of Lagash. As it was my first game, it was quite slow going, I had to check a lot of the rules and look things up especially the traits of units and heroes. The rules are designed to cover historical, legendary and fantasy battles in an age of heroic deeds and are well supported with a QRS, army lists and rosters. Managing your army's reputation (represented by tokens) while destroying your opponent's reputation is the key to winning games.

After a slow start I got on a bit of a roll after a few turns and the casualties quickly mounted. In the end  the defenders of Lagash won a mighty victory by 8-4 reputation tokens. Heroic deeds performed by the heroes of your army can certainly change the action in a game but most of the fighting in my game was done by units of warriors. There is a lot to like about these rules, they are fun and remind me of WAB and Dux Bellorum games I've played and enjoyed in the past. Much of their appeal for me is for heroic Bronze Age and Dark Age games but I'm sure they will be very popular, whatever your gaming interests and preferences may be.

Ur battle cars on the left are destroyed

Infantry combat continues

Ur skirmishers support in vain

Skirmishers fail to evade

Army of Ur's reputation is in tatters

Lagash wins 8-4